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Wednesday, 26 October 2011

Two minutes with… Southend United

It seems a while since my blog has contained the perspective from opposing fans, what with there being no Aldershot Town fans anywhere (shame on you!). Tuesday night, Southend United were the visitors to Underhill – there seems to be a pattern here emerging, as I write as we missed out on any points once again. Thanks to Southend fan, Scott, @S_Wallace23 for his input.

I got the coach from Rayleigh Weir at 5 o’clock. It took us about an hour and a half to get to the ground

What did you do pre-match?

I went to the Old Red Lion pub, but it took me a good 20 minutes to get served by one of the staff – there were four working!

Where did you sit/stand in the ground?

Stood on the East Terrace. I was at the back in the corner nearest the home fans, so had some good banter with them.

What did you make of the game?

I couldn’t see a great deal with the people in front of me but from what I did see I thought we played some really good stuff. The manager is rotating the squad which can sometimes be risky – but we seem to be pulling it off and winning games.

Was the scoreline a fair reflection?

I think so, but if the penalty had gone in early on, it could have been a totally different story. One of my mates had a bet on Ryan Hall being first scorer and Southend to win 3-0 so I think the beers are on him on Saturday!

Who, in your opinion was man of the match?

Michael Timlin, who we have on loan from Swindon – not sure how he can’t get into their side. He is a real class act and too good for League 2. Hopefully they can be tempted to let him go permanently in the January window. It’s no coincidence that our unbeaten run has coincided with his run in the side.

Who have you got next and how do you think you'll get on?

We’re away at Macclesfield at the weekend. A coach load of us will be going up there in fancy dress as it is Halloween. Macclesfield are doing well this season but I’m very confident that we’re going to get something from every game at the moment. I’ll say a 2-0 away win.

Thanks Scott

My final word

As much as we can blame the officials for some of the decisions made (particularly the fiasco surrounding Southend’s second goal – it was definitely, as the linesman initially said, offside!), we only have ourselves to blame. If McLeod scored the penalty, I’m not confident we would have won the game, but at least it could have given us that bit of confidence or even momentum. Again, not much to say positively about our performance – other than that of Ricky Holmes, who’s been doing really well of late! It seems that once again, defending is our downfall and something that really needs work on!